Pune: All municipal wards to get OPDs soon

Pune: Every municipal ward in the city will soon get an out-patient department (OPD). The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) also plans to start 50-bed hospitals in each of the four zones.

The civic administration informed elected members about these measures during the civic general body meeting on Monday.

Elected members discussed the status of a health scheme for the urban poor during the meeting. As per the scheme, leading private hospitals have to reserve beds to treat patients from financially weak backgrounds.

Only 55 people have taken the benefit of this scheme. If the scheme had been implemented properly, 9,700 patients could have benefited, the leaders said. The corporators stressed the need to increase awareness about the scheme so that more needy families can get medical treatment.

Corporators demanded that boards displaying information about various PMC health schemes should be put up at prominent places in hospitals.

They also accused the hospitals of not adhering to the agreement with the PMC to treat needy patients. "The hospitals don't entertain patients referred to them by the civic administration. The beds are not allotted to them and are often lying empty," said Shankar Kemse, leader of the house.

They also raised the issue of illegal constructions in hospitals and encroachments on the civic hospital properties.

The civic administration assured the leaders that it would review the contracts of hospitals that have not followed the terms of the agreement. "The schemes will be promoted so that more people can benefit from them," additional municipal commissioner Rajendra Jagtap said.

He said the administration will also increase ward-level medical facilities, the funds for which will be sought from the Union government. The new OPDs and hospitals will be built under the National Urban Health Mission.

The corporation currently runs 38 OPDs, 15 maternity hospitals, two mobile hospitals and one general hospital and vaccination centre each. The PMC comprises 76 panels, each of which consists of two wards. If the new scheme becomes a reality, the city will have 152 OPDs.

Only in India the healthcare financing is very small when compared to the financing by the other forces rather than the patient himself or herself paying out of pocket. Having 70-75% of the expenses as out-of-pocket, in my opinion, is not a right approach to managing healthcare in a country where the patients tend to sub-optimally purchase healthcare if he/she has to pay out-of-pocket.